LOWELL -- Twenty-seven state legislators and two mayors signed a letter over the weekend calling for a boycott of Market Basket to support employees calling for the return of Arthur T. Demoulas, and on Sunday, some of those employees were fired.

The moves came on the eve of a planned rally aimed at supporting Arthur T. Demoulas at the Market Basket store at 10 Main Street in Tewksbury, which is slated to begin Monday at 9 a.m.

State Sen. Barry Finegold, D-Andover, whose district includes Market Basket's headquarters in Tewksbury, started circulating the letter over the weekend and said he expects many more of his colleagues to sign on.

The letter says the legislators and mayors will boycott the chain to stand with employees who are calling for the Market Basket board of directors to return Arthur T. Demoulas to the position of CEO.

Meanwhile, word emerged Sunday afternoon that at least seven front-office employees were fired over the weekend, including Dean Joyce, supervisor of the company's Tewksbury warehouse.

According to wearemarketbasket.com, a website set up by those working toward Arthur T. Demoulas' reinstatement, other employees who received a termination letter delivered by courier on Sunday include Tom Trainor, Tom Gordon, Steve Paulenka, Jim Lacourse, Joe Schmidt and Mike Kettenbach.

"Others await a similar knock on their door," an unnamed website administrator wrote in a blog post announcing the terminations.

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Market Basket management confirmed via email Sunday night that some employees were fired, but did not confirm individual names.

"Their actions continued to harm the company, negatively impacted customers, and inhibited associates' ability to perform their jobs," management said in a statement.

Reports in The Sun and on social media showed empty produce shelves at Market Basket stores around the state over the weekend in the wake of employee protests over Arthur T's firing.

Finegold and at least two other legislators who signed the letter, Rep. Colleen Garry, D-Dracut, and Rep. David Nangle, D-Lowell, said there is nothing they can do legislatively because Market Basket is privately owned.

Both Garry and Nangle said they also wrote to the Market Basket board of directors last year when the board was considering removing Arthur T. as CEO.

Finegold said he usually believes private-sector issues should remain in the private sector, but he said the Market Basket situation is different because employees are risking their livelihoods for a cause that goes beyond wage issues.

"If they're willing to risk their livelihoods, at a minimum, I should be willing to stand up with them," Finegold said.

"The current actions of the board and officers is one motivated by corporate greed and will only serve to destroy the legacy the Demoulas family has worked generations to establish," the letter states. "We ask that all of our colleagues join with us across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and boycott Market Basket and stand with its employees and with the standard of delivering low-priced, quality groceries that Arthur T. Demoulas has set."

Attorney General Martha Coakley, who is running for governor, also released a statement calling the actions of Market Basket employees "inspiring," and calling on the current management to respect the voices of employees.

"I hope the current management of Market Basket will respect these voices and that these employees will be able to make their case without losing jobs or their hard-earned benefits," Coakley said. "Market Basket has been a great employer and community partner for decades, and I hope those values are maintained."

Coakley's statement was released just hours before the terminations were announced.

Efforts to reach the employees who were fired Sunday were unsuccessful, but www.wearemarketbasket.com posted a letter from Trainor, who worked for Market Basket for 41 years before his termination, to his former colleagues.

Trainor said he knew he could be fired, but that he did not expect to be fired by a letter delivered by courier.

"I was fired by a courier at my home with my wife and youngest daughter watching," Trainor said. "It wasn't unexpected. When I started this fight over a year ago, I knew the risk but I also knew I was fighting for something much bigger than myself.

"I was fighting for my MB family, for Arthur T. Demoulas, a man that I have tremendous respect, loyalty and admiration for. A man that I would run through a wall for. I have no regrets. I would do it all over again and I leave the company I love with my head held high in the knowledge that there wasn't a single thing more that I could have done."

Trainor signed the letter after saying he would still attend the rally planned for Monday at store number 8 at Stadium Plaza in Tewksbury.

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